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Jackson's Whole
Jackson's Whole was a planet in the Nexus with five wormhole exits. One connected to the Hegen Hub, one to somewhere in the Cetagandan Empire, and one to Escobar. The other two are not clearly identified, but one could be used as a route to Earth. *House Fell controlled the wormhole to the Hegen Hub''Mirror Dance'' chapter 3 *House Prestene controlled the wormhole that connected to the Cetagandan Empire''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' chapter 10 *House Cordonah controlled a wormhole that was usable as a route to Earth''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' chapter 10 *A consortium of Houses which at the time of Mirror Dance was dominated by House Bharaputra controlled the shortest route (nine jumps, about half a dozen days for the Ariel) to Escobar''Mirror Dance'' chapter 3 *There is no clear statement regarding which House or Houses controlled the other route, but it may have been a consortium of House Dyne and House Hargraves. (See Hargraves-Dyne Consortium Station.) History About 100 years before Miles Vorkosigan's time, Jackson's Whole was a hijacker base. Over time, it evolved into an anarchic aristocracy ruled by a series of interlocking crime syndicates known as Houses Major and Houses Minor."Labyrinth" The heads of the Houses are afforded the title of 'Baron' (female 'Baronne'). Terrain While the planet was habitable with a breathable atmosphere, it was barren, cold, and mountainous; it was temperate near the equator, and frozen elsewhere. Snow was commonplace at the latitudes where Baron Bharaputra and Baron Fell had their facilities."Labyrinth" There appear to have been native plants, or at least there was a kind of slimy lichen that grew on the south sides of buildings.Mirror Dance chapter 15 The length of a day on Jackson's Whole was 26 hours and some minutes.Mirror Dance chapter 25 Culture Jackson's Whole people would sell anything and everything if the price was right. Nothing was illegal, provided sufficient money. Furthermore, the judicial system was based on a system of "bids" where anyone could purchase justice for the right price. Any party could purchase an arrest. The accused party was then forced to outbid the prosecutor to go free.The Vor Game chapter 9 The only semi-sacred institution of the planet was "The Deal", an oral or verbal contract. Skipping out on Deals was very much frowned upon, but sometimes happened nonetheless. Cheating in a Deal to the exact extent that one could get away with, however, was standard business practice. People who had no associated House, such as Russo Gupta, lived precarious lives."Labyrinth"Diplomatic Immunity chapter 12''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' On the other hand life for House employees was most likely little different from that of the working and middle classes of any world - with good opportunities for advancement if one was intelligent and ruthless enough. The Houses There were approximately 116 Great Houses (the number fluctuated, but is correct for the time of Captain Vorpatril's Alliance)Captain Vorpatril's Alliance chapter 2 and countless Houses Minor. Some were: *House Fell, with the motto "No questions asked", specialized in weapons deals. The Baron was Georish Stauber. The Durona Group worked for a time for House Fell, providing biomedical services and research into biological weapons and antidotes. Fell Station also controlled the wormhole jump to the Hegen Hub (and thus the shortest route between Jackson's Whole and Barrayar)."Labyrinth" *House Bharaputra, which claimed to be in the immortality business, specialized in illegal genetics, particularly clone-brain transplants. The Baron was Vasa Luigi. They were the dominant part of the consortium of Houses that controlled the wormhole jump to Escobar."Labyrinth"Mirror Dance chapter 3 *House Ryoval, with the motto "Dreams Made Flesh", specialized in the sex slave trade."Labyrinth" The Baron was Ry Ryoval until Mark Vorkosigan killed him. The House was subsequently subsumed by Fell. It was considered to be really a House Minor in terms of the size of its business, but was accorded the status of a House Major in light of its age.Mirror Dance chapter 25 *House Dyne, which provided detergent banking (i.e. money laundering) for the Nexus."Labyrinth" *House Hargraves was the galactic fence; they supplied middlemen for ransom negotiations."Labyrinth" **Hargraves and Dyne jointly controlled an orbital space station that had Barrayar's consulate on it (Hargraves-Dyne Consortium Station).Mirror Dance chapter 29 *House Cordonah, which controlled the jumpstation near a wormhole route to Earth, provided useful intelligence to nearby governments and worked in the ransom negotiation business.Captain Vorpatril's Alliance chapter 3''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' chapter 10 *House Prestene, which controlled the jumpstation near the wormhole route to the Cetagandan EmpireCaptain Vorpatril's Alliance chapter 10 *House Dyan was extinct, having been swallowed up by Ryoval a few years before it got subsumed in turn. It had probably been a House Minor at the time.Diplomatic Immunity chapter 12 Jacksonians in the Vorkosigan Saga **Vasa Luigi Bharaputra, Baron Bharaputra - Co-leader of House Bharaputra, which specialized in illegal genetics. *Lotus Bharaputra, Baronne Bharaputra - A former member of the Durona Group. *Ry Ryoval, Baron Ryoval, son of the founder of House Ryoval. *Georish Stauber, Baron Fell *Hugh Canaba - Canaba was a genetic engineer who helped create Taura, and who was extracted from House Bharaputra by the Dendarii Mercenaries. He moved to Barrayar and changed his name to Vaughn Weddell. *Lilly Durona and the Durona Group - A collective of clones whose progenitor, Lilly Durona, set up to provide biomedical services to House Fell, both as family doctors and as researchers into military toxins and antidotes. When the Deal between the Duronas and House Fell collapsed, the Duronas emigrated to Escobar to begin a new life. **Lilly Durona Junior - A Durona clone created by Lotus and intended for a clone-brain transplant. **Rowan Durona and her brother Raven Durona - Cryorevival specialists from the Durona Group. *Russo Gupta - A genetically-engineered amphibian who found himself Houseless when House Dyan was taken over by House Ryoval. *Gras-Grace Nevatta - Leader of the smuggling operation that Russo Gupta worked with *Hewlet - Jump pilot for Gras-Grace's operation *Firka - Mechanic for Gras-Grace's operation *Taura - A Bharaputra-created, eight-foot tall prototype for a super-soldier who left Jackson's Whole at age 16 to become a Dendarii Mercenary soldier. *Mark Pierre Vorkosigan - A clone of Miles Vorkosigan created by House Bharaputra. *Tej and Rish - Two major characters in Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, they were members of House Cordonah who fled that House's conquest by House Prestene. *Luca Tarpan - Criminal with dealings on Barrayar *Manager Deem - Employee of House Ryoval *Moglia - Security chief for House Ryoval Behind the scenes The name Jackson's Whole is a reference to Jackson Hole, WY. Notes and references External links * Category:Planets